The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to panels for combustors in gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to bosses and cooling arrangements for combustor panels within gas turbine engines.
A combustor of a gas turbine engine may be configured and required to burn fuel in a minimum volume. Such configurations may place substantial heat load on the structure of the combustor (e.g., panels, shell, etc.). Such heat loads may dictate that special consideration is given to structures which may be configured as heat shields or panels configured to protect the walls of the combustor, with the heat shields being air cooled. Even with such configurations, excess temperatures at various locations may occur leading to oxidation, cracking, and high thermal stresses of the heat shields or panels. As such, impingement and convective cooling of panels of the combustor wall may be used. Convective cooling may be achieved by air that is trapped between the panels and a shell of the combustor. Impingement cooling may be a process of directing relatively cool air from a location exterior to the combustor toward a back or underside of the panels.
Thus, combustor liners and heat shields are utilized to face the hot products of combustion within a combustion chamber and protect the overall combustor shell. The combustor liners are supplied with cooling air including dilution passages which deliver a high volume of cooling air into a hot flow path. Dilution passages include a boss which extends beyond a hot side face of the liner. Other features in the combustor may have liners with bosses. It may be difficult to cool the bosses, and thus combustor liner boss cooling may be advantageous.